Bow Wow Speaks Out About Being Addicted to Cough Syrup

Bow Wow admitted on Twitter that he was addicted to lean, a combination of codeine and soda. The rapper’s addiction reached a peek while he was recording “Face Off” with Omarion.

“To the youth — stop with these dumb ass drugs,” Bow Wow wrote on Twitter. “I’m going to let something out. When me and Omarion worked on FACE OFF album, I was high off lean everyday! When y’all saw me on BET going off on Torae I was high off lean. My attitude, everything changed. My fans started to turn on me, my family too.”

Eventually, his addiction caused him to land in the hospital.

“I never promoted lean in my songs,” he continued. “The whole time I was on the UCP tour with Chris [Brown] I WAS SIPPING 4’s at least 7 times a day. I was addicted until our show in Cincinnati … I came off stage and passed out, woke up in the hospital [and] was having withdrawals.”

Bow Wow, whose real name is Shad Moss, said he was drinking lean in order to “be cool” but ultimately realized that “drug free is the way to be.”

“Kick that s–t!” he wrote. “Be a good son or daughter. Be the best you. Ima start being more vocal. We gotta save the youth from going out early. Parents watch your kids. Explain to them. We want y’all to live man. I almost died f–king with syrup. To this day I’m affected, my stomach will never be the same and it hasn’t been.